What does the pledge mean?

In its manifesto, Labour promised to support its new state-owned company Great British Energy (GBE) with £8.3 billion in capital funding over the course of this parliament.

This pledge forms part of what the Labour government has described as its “second mission”: to make Britain “a clean energy superpower”.

Labour pitched GBE as a “publicly-owned company” that will deliver clean power by co-investing in “leading technologies” and supporting capital-intensive projects, and also said it would “deploy local energy production”. It has also stated the company will create jobs and support growth across the UK.

GBE has a remit of “facilitating, encouraging and participating” in “the production, distribution, storage and supply of clean energy” and “the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from energy produced from fossil fuels”.

It aims to do so by partnering with the private sector in wind, solar and nuclear energy—all of which are mature low-carbon technologies—and by investing in “less mature technologies” such as floating offshore wind and carbon capture.

The Great British Energy Act—the legislation establishing GBE—passed into law on 15 May 2025.

What progress has been made?

We’re currently rating this pledge as “In progress”.

In its 2024 Autumn Budget, the government provided £100 million capital funding to GBE for 2025-26 for clean energy project development, and a further £25 million to establish itself as a company headquartered in Aberdeen.

In the June 2025 Spending Review, chancellor Rachel Reeves allocated £8.3 billion in capital funding to GBE and “Great British Energy - Nuclear”, which the government described as an “allied” body, over the course of the parliament.

Of the £8.3 billion, some £2.5 billion is allocated to “Great British Energy - Nuclear” to develop small modular reactors, small-scale nuclear power plants, with Rolls Royce named as the government’s preferred partner for the scheme. This has led to some commentators suggesting GBE’s budget has been “raided” or “effectively cut” to pay for nuclear projects.

However a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) spokesperson told Full Fact they rejected this assertion, claiming that GBE’s founding statement and pre-election policy documents had always envisaged a role for nuclear projects.

“Great British Energy - Nuclear” is a separate government-owned company, which was established by the Conservatives in July 2023 as “Great British Nuclear” to support nuclear projects. It was renamed by Labour in June 2025.

There is evidence that prior to the election Labour did indeed anticipate a relationship between GBE and what was then Great British Nuclear—in March 2024, it said GBE would “absorb the functions of Great British Nuclear”. GBE’s founding statement in July 2024 also said the government was considering how its functions could be “aligned” with this separate company, headquartered in Warrington.

Under a strict reading of the manifesto commitment, £8.3 billion was due to be allocated to GBE. Following the Spending Review, it appears some £2.5 billion of this will be allocated to the separate body, GBE - Nuclear. However, given the relationship between the two government-owned companies, their shared aims and the fact that Labour did indicate prior to the election that GBE would absorb the functions of Great British Nuclear, for now we’re rating this pledge as “In progress”.